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Tlong, we don't care...
http://msn.foxsports.com/nba/story/9...ight-direction
Portland stood pat at the trade deadline with good reason. Randy Hill says a young nucleus has the Blazers on the right path.
The drama-rama that permeates the NBA's Western Conference has several teams angling to steal the stretch-run spotlight.
In Salt Lake City, the Utah Jazz are attempting to parlay their return to relative health into a playoff seed that generates home-court advantage in Round 1. That's also the goal in Houston, where the Rockets have been rollin' without Tracy McGrady and Rafer Alston.
The doomed trade of Tyson Chandler has 'em talkin' in New Orleans, where the Hornets are hoping their 7-foot-1 center is fit enough to help the Hornets play as well as we were expecting them to play.
Jason Terry's injured wrist has been the buzz in Dallas, where owner Mark Cuban although relatively quiet on his terms keeps the Mavericks viable in most news cycles.
And Phoenix may lead this league in soap-opera premises, but now any seed will do as the Suns attempt a season-saving rally.
But relatively little attention is mustered in Portland, where the left knee of redshirt rookie center Greg Oden is inspiring the most national interest. The Trail Blazers, who currently are sitting on the fifth seed in a tightly bunched Western pack, are led by a radar-skimming star in Brandon Roy and are right where most of us thought they'd be.
How did they go from out of the playoffs last season to home-court contender this season? Well, most of this upward skip can be attributed to the magical variable of on-the-job experience. The Blazers simply have a couple of really good young players (power forward LaMarcus Aldridge is the other) who are getting better and a few others with the potential to be far above average.
The chronologically explained improvement has been abetted now and then by the presence of the 7-foot Oden, whose roller-coaster performance casts Portland in the role of darkhorse for this season and maybe a couple more.
Before examining the Blazers' potential Western Conference footprint, let's look at what Oden who has missed the last seven games courtesy of a bone chip in that left knee has accomplished. In his 46 games (39 as a starter), the one-year Ohio State wonder has averaged nine points and 7.2 rebounds over 23 minutes.
Oden also is credited with 16 double-doubles, a nice and possibly revealing statistic that is somewhat diminished when we remind you that Greg is giving Portland just 5.6 and 4.8 in the 14 games against the conference's eight other solid playoff contenders.
While we're digging into Oden, please note that the Blazers (37-22) are a salty 9-4 in the games he's missed, but a mediocre 4-4 without Greg against quality foes.
So Oden's knee, his raw footwork on offense and that sub-par lateral footwork on defense are teaming up as issues in Portland's future as a potential Finals contender.
But as their center occupies a space tucked safely between Bill Russell and Sam Bowie, the Blazers seem to be stuck in that void that separates potential and arrival.
The big test for management was to determine where they are right now, what they can become and when.
That's why general manager Kevin Pritchard was one of the most closely watched personnel sharpies during the NBA's recently expired trading-deadline deliberations. With several unsolicited advisors assisting him, Pritchard was informed the Blazers needed a third scoring option, preferably a small forward with more consistency than super-sub Travis Outlaw and much greater offensive chops than rookie Nicolas Batum.
The reported candidates included Charlotte's hard-working Gerald Wallace, highly compensated New Jersey Net Vince Carter and the accomplished Richard Jefferson of the Milwaukee Bucks. After sifting through the list of names that might go away in one of these deals and the length of a big contract coming to Portland in return, Pritchard and the Blazers decided to remain status quo.
While attempting to ride the existing roster into a better playoff position, the Blazers will go into the summer buying season armed with a new trade exception and only $50 million in committed salaries (thank you, Raef LaFrentz) for the 2009-2010 campaign.
In my opinion, Pritchard's patience should reward Portland with the greatest opportunity for long-term success. Adding one of the aforementioned players may have pushed this team into the second round, but probably not to ultimate NBA glory.
The diminishing return on one of those big contracts may have undermined the franchise when extensions are due for key players on the current rotation, which unless a trade occurs will return intact next season (for the record, I really whiffed by missing Roy on my list of underpaid players in a column last week).
It also was reported that coach Nate McMillan who was dealing with an injury to Steve Blake at the time had pre-deadline concerns about his point guards. But a quick review of the numbers indicates the Blazers are ranked second in offensive efficiency; getting the ball in the basket out of their patterned sets doesn't seem to be a problem.
Portland also checks in at 30th in possessions per 48 minutes, which suggests that instead of going nowhere fast, a slower, half-court oriented offense is allowed to flow through the playing skills of Roy. And if the point guard du jour can bring the ball into the forecourt without incident, defend the position and make open shots, point guard concerns may be overblown.
It should be noted that the league's most statistically efficient offense can be found in Los Angeles, where the Lakers punish the scoreboard with no card-carrying point guard in the starting lineup. This doesn't mean Roy is the equal of Kobe Bryant as a defense-challenging threat or that the Blazers need to run the triangle. But it does reveal that especially as rookie Jerryd Bayless continues to evolve the Blazers can flourish without spitting up a key rotation player for someone who fits the point guard definition on offense without being able to defend.
But going forward (in time and in the conference standings), Portland and its maturing roster must commit to a consistently stingy effort on defense. The Blazers are ranked 18th in defensive efficiency, which is last among teams currently registered as playoff-bound.
Goal-tending improvement from Oden with rebounding and fly-swatting assistance from Aldridge also improves the Blazers' overall versatility by allowing McMillan to play three perimeter-oriented players at the same time. This (in theory) would boost defensive pressure and allow greater spacing and dribble penetration on offense.
Tactics and player groupings can be irrelevant without leadership from a premier player, and the Blazers have one in Roy. Blazer fans eventually may rejoice that Pritchard didn't compromise future roster flexibility by attempting to swing for the fences now. Sure, the window of le opportunity doesn't stay open forever, but Portland's is barely cracked.
How far the Blazers go in the coming years depends on how Pritchard massages the cap in building around Roy.
Considering the wisdom used in acquiring Roy in the first place, I'd say the franchise is in pretty good shape.
Tlong, we don't care...
Portland gets one good win and it's nonstop tllong... I better start a thread about the Suns beating La...
I'm calling it right now - the Oden/Roy/Aldridge Blazers won't win any championships, they may never make it to the Finals. The Durant/Green/Westbrook Thunder is the real future of the Western Conference.
I think I can agree with this, I don't know if you can just say a team like the blazers won't win any championships though.
^ Sure you can.
They could very easily develop into one of those teams like the Suns, Mavs (although we won it all in 2006), Kings, and Blazers of earlier this decade that string together a great number of regular seasons but never makes it over the hump. Their future is really dependent on Oden as well too IMO. Plus they're a little soft.
Green Westbrook and Durant IMO can become very good defenders.
Durant has "it". Roy is very good, but I don't think he has "it".
a 6'9 shooting guard with a 7'5 wingspan. Kinda a toothpick, but his offensive skillz is off the hook.
I can't reall describe what i mean by "it", but I'm sure you know.
There's so many good young teams in the league too really.
Memphis, Oklahoma City, Portland, Indiana, Golden State, Charlotte to some extent.
But of course there's a limited supply of championships and a limited supply of elite teams per year, the future is bright for all but doesn't guarantee les or even elite status.
But really, the immediate future does belong to the mutha in King, who is on the verge of his first championship at the age of 24, and can still add elements to his game.
I agree, I dont think the current core of Oden/Aldridge/Roy is good enought to win a championship, unless Oden surpasses current expectations (which at best are 15-12-3 for 70 games a season). But they have a lot of good peripheral talent and some draft picks they can package together and trade for superior talent in the sf and pg positions.
If only they had drafted Durant...They could trade Raef's contract, Outlaw, Rodriguez, cash and some picks for a center like Chandler or Kaman and a pg (maybe Nash/Miller?)
The following lineup would contend right now.
C - Chandler/Kaman, Pryzbilla
PF- Aldridge, Frye
SF- Durant, Webster, Batum
SG- Roy, Fernandez
PG- Nash?, Bayliss, Blake
Still, they can decide to throw some money in the summer and go after a SF like Marion or Turkoglu and a PG like Sessions.
The blazers will win a championship with that core. Ghazi's just pissed because the mavs have blown every opportunity they have had. Even when they won 67 games, golden state beat the out of em' in the first round. Before it is even brought up, yeah the rockets have not been out of the first round in a while, but at least our owner isnt a mental midget
No one takes the Blazers seriously. This team is comprised of guys that were always picked last for the team on the playground to play basketball. They are just not a threat.
, "atleast our owner isnt a mental midget?"
I think I'll take a mental midget owner and a 67 win season and trip (championship) to the Finals over perennial 1st round defeat thank you very much.
They would be better a lot sooner if they were willing to give up some of that surplus of young talent for some veteran leadership. It's not like they will be able to keep everyone signed up anyway.
Right now, they're headed to a first round exit...
And anything over 2 years is looking way ahead and extremely difficult to predict in this league...
Blazers can win a playoff series this year if they secure the 4 seed, especially against a team like the Hornets who are a bunch of lazy old jump shooters who don't play defense.
It's just a poll.
Sorry to burst your bubbly Ghazi, but Portland doesn't match up well with us. West always outplays Aldridge. Oden is ineffective against Chandler, and they have no answer for CP3. Portland's a nice young team, but we've done really well against them this season. Should have won the series 3-1 easily, but the team collapsed and blew a 20 point lead right after CP3 got hurt. We will beat Portland in a 7-game series. Also Denver too. Rockets and Spurs are a question mark while not so likely against LA and Utah.
OKC won't win anything with Westbrook at the point. He will take too many shots away from everyone else. Need to move him to the SG or a 6th man type and find a real PG.
"should be"? One of the games the Hornets won was when Roy was out.
by the time they are ready to start winning contracts for roy, alridge, etc will be and even that rich owner wont sign them all. and they still have blake as a pg not an elite guard they wanted
Big deal. Chandler was ejected early in the 3rd quarter of that game. Even with a healthy Roy, we fare pretty well against them. They don't matchup well with us. If you think West is a soft jumpshooter, watch Aldridge play. Besides, you really think Steve Blake can stay with CP3? No chance. We probably win that series in 5 or 6.
Not if they had home court, then the Blazers would win in 5.
The Hornets are done. Their chemistry is hosed after what they did to Chandler. We would take them out in 5 games.
That's why we're 5-0 with him back in the lineup. Not an impressive 5-0. Kinda like a Big Ten 5-0, grinding out victories lately. Deep down, you know your team would struggle mightily in a 7-game series against us, especially if we have a home court. You have a nice young team and I think Roy is fantastic, but this season is not your time.
Keep hatin. You'll just get more and more disappointed.
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